【國立臺灣大學109學年度畢業典禮 致詞代表 資訊工程學系韓哈斯】
Student Address, National Taiwan University Commencement 2021
International student Seth Austin Harding from Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering

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校長、教授、以及在螢幕前的各位同學，大家好。非常感謝臺大給我這個機會。我是韓哈斯，來自美國華盛頓特區。我會以自身的真實經驗出發，來跟大家分享臺大帶給我的收穫。

我當初為什麼選擇來台灣求學呢？我小時候非常喜歡看武打片，然後我十歲的時候去看了一部電影叫做「功夫熊貓」。這部電影成為了我最喜歡的電影，主角「阿波」的故事跟我的故事很像。我看完了之後就決定要開始學功夫，所以去了「美國武術學院」。那個時候我每天都聽旁邊的人講中文，到了高中我就決定開始學中文。當時我遇到了一位貴人，她是從台北到美國來教書的中文老師，她教的課是我當時最喜歡的課，我每天去她的教室跟好朋友練習。到了高中畢業時，我是全高中中文最好的非母語人士。同時，我第二喜歡的課程是電腦科學，那時候我是程式能力數一數二的學生。後來在成功錄取夢寐以求的學校：臺灣大學之後，我感到雀躍不已，因為我既可以繼續學習中文，也可以持續在世界頂尖的學府中，往電腦科學的方向精進自我。

不過老實說，當我回顧大一的時期，我也曾迷失自我。雖然我修了很多很多的中文課，但是我那時只聽得懂大概一半的課程內容。跟大家對美國人的印象不同，我其實很害羞，也很害怕舉手提問，我甚至不太敢參與社交，所以當時朋友也很少。我開始想家，也變得有一點憂鬱。那時籃球是我唯一的紓壓方式。

但更不幸的是，我在打籃球時弄傷了我的前十字韌帶，做了兩次手術，需要一年半才能恢復。許多的負面情緒壓得我喘不過氣。我被困在人生的低谷，不知如何是好。我覺得我的中文不夠好，我也被診斷出失眠跟ADHD，另外，美國高中的數學太簡單了，來這邊不夠用。種種壓力讓我足不出戶，找不到自己的人生方向。後來，我向臺大心輔中心以及我的心理醫師尋求協助，然後我也開始跟系上有更多互動。有一位教授叫徐宏民跟我說，"Never give up"，雖然那時候我覺得這句話太過於簡化了我的問題，不過，在我仔細思考了一個禮拜之後，我下定決心，發誓不讓自己被這些事擊敗。我決定要克盡全力，認真做好每件事。這是我人生的轉捩點，我開始變得異常自律。當時廖世偉教授和洪士灝系主任帶我進入它們的研究室鑽研學術。這重燃了我對資訊工程的熱忱，提醒了我當初會愛上這個領域的原因。我開始研究人工智慧以及區塊鏈，也開始跟其他系上同學交朋友，一起成立臺大人工智慧應用社NTUAI。NTUAI現在是校內頗具規模的技術研究社團，致力於推廣人工智慧給任何對該領域有熱忱的學生。歡迎加入NTUAI，可以掃描我們的QR CODE。

最近，由於疫情的緣故，我已經一年半沒回美國了。但是沒關係，因為我已經找到了我第二個家。我很愛臺大，以及台灣的人事物。雖然我經歷了人生的低潮，但這裡的一切總是給我滿滿的祝福與協助。最後，我想送給大家「功夫熊貓」裡的一句台詞： "You just need to believe"。只要用樂觀的態度去面對困難，就有能力改變自己，甚至改變身旁所愛的人。就像阿波的父親說的，"心誠則靈，只要你相信，點石就能成金。根本沒有什麼秘笈。只有你。"謝謝大家。

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President, professors, and classmates, I'm very honored to be here. Thank you to NTU for giving me this opportunity. My name's Seth Austin Harding, and I'm from the D.C. metropolitan area. I'm going to tell a real story that's personal but that's relatable and what I see as the real me.

What motivated and guided me to take my undergraduate studies in Taiwan? When I was very young, I really loved watching kung fu movies, and when I was 10 years old, I went to the theater to watch "Kung Fu Panda". This became my favorite movie as I felt like the story of the main character Po was one to which I could very much relate. After watching this movie, I decided that I wanted to start learning kung fu, so I went to the United States Wushu Academy. At the time, I began hearing Mandarin on a daily basis, so when I was in high school, I decided to begin formally studying Chinese. It ended up being my Chinese teacher from Taipei who was my favorite teacher who taught my favorite class, so I decided I'd hang out in the Chinese classroom every day and practice lots. By the time graduation came around, I had attained the highest proficiency in Chinese among any non-native speaker in my school. My second favorite class was computer science, and I ended up attaining among the best coding skills in my school. After getting accepted to the school of my dreams -- National Taiwan University -- I felt honored, humbled, and excited; I could now spend time at among the world's finest universities studying Chinese and at the same time advancing my knowledge of computer science.

But when I look back at my freshman year, to be honest with you, I didn't know what I was doing. Despite having taken very many Chinese classes, when I went to the NTU lectures, I understood only about half of what the teachers were saying. Contrary to most people's impressions of an American, I was actually too shy to raise my hand, to ask questions, or to even meet with teachers after class, so I had very few friends at the time. I started to become homesick and depressed. At that time, I found that basketball was the only way I knew of relieving my stress. However, while playing basketball, I had torn my ACL and it would take two surgeries and a year and a half in time to fully recover. At this point, I felt caught between a rock and a hard place. In fact, this was the lowest point of my life, and I didn't know what to do. I felt like my Chinese wasn't good enough, I had been diagnosed with insomnia and ADHD, and I felt like the math taught in America was too simple to allow for me to keep up with my classmates. I was under immense pressure, and at this time, I lost any sense of purpose or direction. Later on, I went to seek help from NTU counseling, from my psychiatrist, and from my department. I reached out to Professor Winston Hsu from CSIE, and he told me this: "Never give up"; it was such an oversimplified way to approach such a complex series of problems, I had thought. However, I pondered these words intensely for one week, and by the end of that week, I had made a firm decision. This would NOT be another example of me giving up. I decided to go all out, to work diligently and passionately on all tasks at hand. This was the turning point of my life; I started to discipline myself to a very high degree. At this time, I met my then-to-become advisors Professor Shih-Wei Liao and Professor Shih-Hao Hung and entered their labs to begin research. Finally, the passion that I had for computer science that I had previously held in high school was kindled again, and I was finally reminded why I loved this field. I began my research life in blockchain and AI, and at the time I entered the lab, I also began creating NTUAI. NTUAI is now a large and highly successful NTU club that is dedicated to the research and public understanding of AI. Welcome one and all to join us; please scan our QR code here.

For a year and a half I haven't returned to America because of covid. But not to worry; I have found my second home, away from home. I love it here in NTU and I cherish all of the things I've had the privilege to experience in Taiwan. I've gone through the most difficult of struggles in my life here, but I've also had the most fortunate and blessed of experiences. To conclude, I'd like to quote a line from "Kung Fu Panda": "You just need to believe". As long as you are willing to adopt an optimistic attitude in facing challenges and hardships, you may become a positive force in changing the lives of those around you as well as your own life. It all depends on how you view it; just like what Po's father says, "there is no secret ingredient. It's just you." Thank you, everyone.

詳見：
https://www.facebook.com/NTUCommencement/posts/2718185771805180

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#臺灣大學 #畢業典禮 #NTUCommencement2021 #學生致詞代表 #臺大資訊工程學系 #韓哈斯 #SethAustinHarding

赤燭遊戲 － Red Candle Games：『大家好，我們是赤燭。
Scroll down for English content

今年二月，『返校 - Detention』及『還願 - Devotion』兩款作品，同時成為哈佛大學燕京圖書館的館藏內容之一。這份殊榮不僅屬於團隊，也屬於一直以來支持我們的玩家朋友們，在此特別感謝鄭炯文館長、王德威教授、馬小鶴主任及陳也東先生的邀請與協助。

哈佛大學燕京圖書館建於1928年，是哈佛大學圖書館專門用於收藏與東亞相關文獻的場所，該館有中文、日文、西方語文、韓文、越南文、藏文、滿文和蒙古文藏書總計超過百萬卷，是西方世界最大的東亞研究圖書館。離開學校多年，只懂埋頭開發的我們，從來沒有想過有這麼一天，自己創作的遊戲能在哈佛大學的圖書館裡被看見，被體驗。除了感到無比榮幸，也是一個機會，讓我們再次沉澱，重新思考遊戲所擁有的無限可能性。

這一年來，很抱歉讓大家擔心了。或許有些事情的結果不盡人意，但我們仍在，創作理念也不曾改變，希望在未來能有更多優秀的作品與大家分享。

最後，由衷感謝所有合作夥伴，以及至今依然相信著赤燭的朋友。今年不容易，但讓我們一起加油。

Hello, we are Red Candle Games.

This February, the Harvard-Yenching Library at Harvard University officially added both of our titles '返校 Detention' and '還願 Devotion' to its collection. It is an incredible honour which belongs to not only Red Candle but also our supporters/players worldwide. Special thank to the invitation from Harvard-Yenching Library and the assistance from James Cheng, Prof. David Der-wei Wang, Xiao-he Ma, and Yedong Chen for making it possible.

Harvard-Yenching Library, formally founded in 1928, is known as the largest Eastern Asian library maintained by any American university. As game designers, never have we thought that our works could one day be added to its prestige collection. While we truly appreciate the recognition, we had also taken this opportunity to rethink the possibilities that our games could achieve.

For the past one year, we are sorry for making our community worried. Although the current status might not be ideal, we are still here and that nothing has changed - we are and will always develop games with the same passion.

Last but not the least, we’d like to express our gratitude toward our partners, friends and families, especially a big thank you to all fans who still believe in Red Candle Games. It’s a tough year for many of us, but we will keep going, and hopefully in the future we could share more works with you all.』

[爆卦] 赤燭遊戲進哈佛大學圖書館 https://disp.cc/b/163-c7lo

小編快報
《柏林脈動》（The Berlin Pulse) 今天出刊了。這是德國一年一度的外交及國際關係專刊。作者群包括學者、智庫專家、政府官員。

這一期談歐洲問題的作者有波蘭外長、Moldova 總理、德國國防部長等等等。

今年《脈動》特別做了中國專題，作者有五位，分別是：
中國的全國人大外事委員會副主任委員傅瑩、日本眾議會議員Minora Kiuchi、巴黎的中國問題專家Francois Godement、曾任澳洲駐華大使，現任外交及貿易秘書長的Frances Adamson，以及台灣的龍應台。

德國編輯在文末放了一個德國的民意調查圖表，提問是：「面對中國，你認為德國應該更強力保護自己的政治利益，即使犧牲經濟利益？」
答案：贊成 76%
反對 19%

小編把龍應台文章翻譯成中文，跟讀者分享。英文原文附在後面。如果嫌我翻譯得不好，那那那，那表示你英文很好，你就看英文吧......
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兩千三百萬人在獨木舟上
——為什麼歐洲應該關切台灣的未來

反對黨公布2020總統候選人名單的那一天，我在台北和知識圈的朋友們午餐。那悲觀的，用問句來表達自己的悲觀，譬如，「你覺得台灣還有多少年?」那樂觀的，用黑色幽默來表達樂觀，譬如，「感謝老天。香港讓他們太忙了，沒時間管台灣。」

跟德國一樣，台灣對中國大陸和香港的貿易順差，在2018年是831億美元。百分之四十一的對外貿易針對中國，中國大陸市場對台灣的重要不言而喻。然而，隨著近年來台灣海峽兩岸的關係緊張，反對黨(國民黨) 憂慮市場的優勢無法持續，而執政黨(民進黨) 則選擇強化選民對北京的不信任來抵制中國的影響力。執政黨最近提出的國安新法可能將任何被認定為為中國宣傳者入罪。

和歐洲一樣，台灣人對中國的感受也是複雜的。 當中國代表的是活躍的經濟機會時，很多台灣人就容易所謂「親中」，當中國代表的是壓迫和可能的入侵時，很多台灣人就是所謂的「反中」。問題是，中國兩者兼備。後果就是，台灣內部的分歧遠遠超過了僅只是政治和經濟的層面。

如果你知道台灣是如何一路走來的，你會覺得它今天變成一個民主社會真是一個不得了的成就。沒有革命，一黨獨裁四十年的國民黨，不管你說它是自願還是被迫，放下了政權，分享權力。沒有流血，昔日牢裡的政治犯變成今日的立法者和政治領袖。1987年解嚴以後，政權的交替基本上公平而有序地進行了三十年。

台灣安靜地進行了三十年的民主，時間幾乎和它的國際孤立一樣長。美國不承認台灣的國家地位，但是，就如同當年對於德國，美國也扮演了安全守護者的角色。令人不安的是，在美國宣布要把軍售台灣常態化的同時，中國也宣布，它在台灣海峽及其領空，要把軍艦和戰機的演習常態化。

所以台灣民主的威脅其實是雙重的。比較明顯的是中國的威脅，這個威脅，往往超出台灣本身的控制能力。一個不那麼明顯的威脅，卻是內部自製的。台灣的政治人物和政黨熱切拿這個威脅做為政治資本，刺激集體恐懼來強化部落式的愛國主義。這種操作的成功，對台灣的民主制度和機構本身，是個真實的危險。

國際上那些純粹為了攻擊中國而故意把台灣捧在手心讚美的人，其實讓我坐立不安。一代又一代的台灣人為民主付出了代價，很大的代價，而得到今天的成果。這個成果，太珍貴了，不可以變成別人或別國為了自己的利益而拿來玩弄的籌碼或棋子。

德國的歷史是特殊的。德國的人民親身目睹了，如果不戒慎恐懼地去維護，一個開放合理的社會制度是如何容易地瓦解，一夜之間可以被獨裁取代。經歷了二戰，又擺脫了共產黨的歷史爭取到自由，德國可能比很多其他國家更容易理解台灣人的困境和追求。道德勇氣的來源往往是歷史的痛苦。身為歐盟的重要成員，德國有責任為世界的和平做出最大的努力，發揮最大的影響力。

但是，歐洲憑什麼一定要關心台灣呢?

首先，如果沒有台灣模式，全世界大概就都得接受一種說法，就是，儒家文化和民主制度是無法相容的，而所謂「中國模式」就是唯一邏輯、不可避免的現代中國。台灣的存在證明了一件事：未必如此。

第二，台灣本身的努力值得世界的尊敬。沒錯，如果中國是一艘航空母艦，那麼台灣只不過是一葉孤零零的獨木舟。可是在這個獨木舟上有兩千三百萬人正在追求一種有自由、有尊嚴的生活方式。如果台灣是歐盟的一個成員，就人口論，台灣就是二十八個成員國(英國脫歐後二十七國)中第七大國，比波蘭稍小，但比荷蘭和比利時大。以經濟購買力來看，台灣更是名列全球第二十二。所以，歐洲可以想像剝奪波蘭人或者荷蘭人對生活方式和政治體制的選擇權利嗎?

23 Million People on a Canoe
—Why Europe should care about Taiwan’s future

Lung Yingtai

On the day when the opposition party announced its presidential candidate for the 2020 election, I was sitting at a lunch table in Taipei listening to my intellectual friends uttering their concerns about the future of Taiwan. The pessimists phrased their pessimism in the form of questions such as “How many years do you think Taiwan has left?” The optimists expressed their optimism with dark humour, “Thank God they will be too busy with Hong Kong and the US for a while.”

Like Germany, Taiwan operates a trade surplus with mainland China and Hong Kong, amounting to $83.1 billion in 2018. With 41% of Taiwan’s exports going to China, Taipei’s economy depends on trade with the mainland. However, given the increasing tension across the Taiwan Strait, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) in particular has been worrying whether Taiwan will be able to sustain these figures. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party, on the other hand, is capitalizing on voters’ intense distrust of Beijing, stepping up measures to “contain” China’s influence. Taipei recently drafted a national security law that would make it a punishable offense to spread “political propaganda” for China.

As in Europe, Taiwanese feel highly ambivalent about mainland China: When China signifies economic opportunities, most Taiwanese are 23 Million People on a Canoe Why Europe should care about Taiwan’s future “pro-China”; when China represents oppression and potential invasion, most Taiwanese are “anti-China”. The problem is that China resembles both. The result is a deep division among Taiwanese extending far beyond the political and economic spheres.

Given the circumstances under which Taiwan emerged and evolved, its evolution into an authentic democracy represents an extraordinary achievement. It was without a revolution that the KMT, which had ruled Taiwan for more than 40 years, put an end to martial law and, whether convinced or compelled to act, opened the country’s political system to sharing power. Without bloodshed, dissidents who had once sat in jails became legislators and political leaders. Since the lifting of martial law 1987, power has changed hands fairly and orderly, following the results of each election.

Taiwan has been a quiet democracy for more than thirty years, nearly as long as the four decades during which it has been isolated by the international community. The US does not formally recognize Taiwan but, as with Germany, acts as the country’s security guarantor. While Washington has indicated that arms sales to Taiwan will become more of a routine, China has devised a routine of its own by holding long-range combat drills and ordering its fighter jets to cross the maritime line.

However, the threat to Taiwanese democracy is twofold. The obvious one comes from China, and to a large extent lies beyond Taipei’s control. The less obvious threat is home-made, as the looming China threat tempts domestic politicians to mobilize the population’s collective fear to foment a tribal nationalism. Their success would pose a real danger to Taiwan’s democratic institutions.

Those who applaud Taiwanese democracy for the sole purpose of criticizing China make me nervous. Generations of Taiwanese fought and ultimately achieved a democracy – it is simply too precious for other people’s agendas, internal or external.

Germany has a unique history: its people have experienced first-hand how easily democratic institutions may fall apart when not meticulously guarded. Having received democracy as a gift following World War II and struggled to regain their freedom from Communist rule, Germans are in a unique position to understand both the predicament as well as the aspirations of the Taiwanese. Moral courage often comes from past sufferings. As a leading EU member state, Germany has a responsibility to maximize its own efforts as well as to influence others’ efforts for world peace.

But why should the world care about the future of Taiwan? First of all, save the Taiwan model, the world might have to accept the claim that democracy and Confucianism are incompatible, and that a communist China presents the only logical and inevitable path to modernity. Secondly, Taiwan deserves respect on its own merits. True, if China were an aircraft carrier, Taiwan would be a lone canoe. But standing on this canoe are 23 million people aspiring for a life with liberty and dignity. If it were an EU member, Taiwan would be the 7th largest of the Union’s 28 member-states (27 after Brexit), smaller than Poland but larger than the Netherlands or Belgium, with a developed economy ranking 22nd in the world by purchasing power parity. Do we really want to return to a world in which it is imaginable that countries such as Poland or the Netherlands should be deprived of their autonomy to determine their own way of life and political system?

The Berlin Pulse 2019
龍應台專文：https://www.koerber-stiftung.de/fileadmin/user_upload/koerber-stiftung/redaktion/the-berlin-pulse/pdf/2019/3_Koerber_TheBerlinPulse_YingTai.pdf
全本：https://www.koerber-stiftung.de/fileadmin/user_upload/koerber-stiftung/redaktion/the-berlin-pulse/pdf/2019/TheBerlinPulse_2019_FINAL.pdf